The right to non-discrimination promises equality for all persons and freedom from discrimination, based on certain individual and group-based characteristics. Ideally, this should delineate states' obligations to protect all persons. Yet, this right is usually not applied to every person depending on the prevailing social and moral mores of respective jurisdictions. Sexual minorities are part of such excluded individuals and groups, which are deemed undeserving of legal recognition and protection against discrimination based on their unconventional sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Instead of equality and inclusion, retribution is the consequence for failure to conform to mainstream societal and moral values. This drives sexual minorities into the fringes of society, with hardly any assurance that the law can be used to protect them. It is within this context that this chapter interrogates whether the right to non-discrimination can be advanced for sexual minorities, leading to meaningful changes in domestic laws.
The right to non-discrimination promises equality for all persons and freedom from discrimination, based on certain individual and group-based characteristics. Ideally, this should delineate states' obligations to protect all persons. Yet, this right is usually not applied to every person depending on the prevailing social and moral mores of respective jurisdictions. Sexual minorities are part of such excluded individuals and groups, which are deemed undeserving of legal recognition and protection against discrimination based on their unconventional sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Instead of equality and inclusion, retribution is the consequence for failure to conform to mainstream societal and moral values. This drives sexual minorities into the fringes of society, with hardly any assurance that the law can be used to protect them. It is within this context that this chapter interrogates whether the right to non-discrimination can be advanced for sexual minorities, leading to meaningful changes in domestic laws.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.